Albert Schaufelberger
Encyclopedia
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
Navy Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
who was assassinated in El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
.
Background
Schaufelberger was a graduate of the United States Naval AcademyUnited States Naval Academy
The United States Naval Academy is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located in Annapolis, Maryland, United States...
at Annapolis and was an avid sprint (150 lb) American football
American football
American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...
and lacrosse player while in college. His father, Albert Schaufelberger (Senior), was a decorated fighter and bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
pilot during the Vietnam War
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
Role in El Salvador
Lieutenant CommanderLieutenant Commander
Lieutenant Commander is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander...
Schaufelberger was the senior U.S. Naval representative at the U.S. Military Group, El Salvador
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
. He was a United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
SEAL, second in command of the U.S. Military Group advising the Salvadoran Military on counter insurgency
Counter insurgency
A counter-insurgency or counterinsurgency involves actions taken by the recognized government of a nation to contain or quell an insurgency taken up against it...
and weapons traffic interdiction operations. In addition, he was security chief for the 53 U.S. military advisors in the country at the time. Schaufelberger had responsibility, among other duties, for naval operations in the Gulf of Fonseca
Gulf of Fonseca
The Gulf of Fonseca , part of the Pacific Ocean, is a gulf in Central America, bordering El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.-History:Fonseca Bay was discovered in 1522 by Gil Gonzalez de Avila, and named by him after his patron, Archbishop Juan Fonseca, the implacable enemy of Columbus.In 1849, E. G...
which were run out of the La Union
La Unión
La Union or La Unión may refer to:-Colombia:*La Unión, Antioquia*La Unión, Nariño*La Unión, Sucre*La Unión, Valle del Cauca-Peru:*La Unión Province, Peru...
naval base. It was at the La Union naval base where Schaufelberger allowed himself to be photographed for the last time several days before his assassination. Schaufelberger's death was the first of a U.S. military member in El Salvador following the October 1980 arrival in country of U.S. military advisors.
Assassination
At approximately 6:30 pm on May 25, 1983, Schaufelberger was assassinated on the grounds of the Central American University in San SalvadorSan Salvador
The city of San Salvador the capital and largest city of El Salvador, which has been designated a Gamma World City. Its complete name is La Ciudad de Gran San Salvador...
. A group under the umbrella of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front
Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front
The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is, since 1992, a left-wing political party in El Salvador and formerly a coalition of five revolutionary guerrilla organizations...
(FMLN), the Central American Revolutionary Workers' Party
Central American Revolutionary Workers' Party
The Revolutionary Party of Central American Workers was a political party in Central America.The PRTC was founded in 1975, by a sector that had left the ERP-RN after the 1972 elections. Clandestine pre-congress meetings for the founding of PRTC were held in Costa Rica, Honduras and El Salvador in...
(PRTC), is thought to have carried out the act.
Schaufelberger had been dating an employee of the university, Consuelo Escalante Aguilera, for several months and had established a pattern of driving to the university in civilian clothes to pick her up after work. While he varied the days of the week, the time was always the same, between 6:30 and 6:40 pm. On May 25 he arrived at the normal time and sounded the horn of his armored
Armored car (VIP)
A civilian armored car is a security vehicle which made by replacing the windows of a standard vehicle with bulletproof glass and inserting layers of armor plate into the body panels...
embassy-provided Ford Maverick
Ford Maverick (North America)
The Ford Maverick was a compact car manufactured from April 1969-1977 in the United States, Canada, Mexico and from 1973-1979 in Brazil — employing a rear wheel drive platform dating to the original 1960 Falcon...
, his usual signal to inform his date that he had arrived. Ms. Aguilera exited her office and observed what she believed to be a white Volkswagen
Volkswagen
Volkswagen is a German automobile manufacturer and is the original and biggest-selling marque of the Volkswagen Group, which now also owns the Audi, Bentley, Bugatti, Lamborghini, SEAT, and Škoda marques and the truck manufacturer Scania.Volkswagen means "people's car" in German, where it is...
microbus pull up and stop near Schaufelberger's car. Three men got out of the bus; a fourth man stayed with the vehicle. One gunman, carrying a revolver, went behind the victim's car and stopped Ms Aguilera. The second gunman took up a security position while a third gunman ran to the open window of Schaufelberger's car and fired four rounds of .22 Magnum from a handgun into the left side of the victim's head. Schaufelberger's car leaped forward, impacting a car directly in front of it. The assassin calmly reached in and turned off the ignition and then turned to bystanders, telling them to remain calm. The assault group then jumped into their vehicle and escaped. Unfortunately for him, Schaufelberger had removed the bullet-resistant glass over the driver's-side window after the air conditioner in his vehicle had broken. Although Schaufelberger routinely carried a revolver while driving, he did not have the opportunity to use it.
During his last discussion with journalists covering U.S.-advised Salvadoran military operations, Schaufelberger told those present that the insurgents "know who I am, and where I live". His house had apparently already received drive-by gunfire on a recent evening prior to the assassination.
Press coverage
Albert Schaufelberger's assassination was featured on the front cover of the June 6, 1983 edition of NewsweekNewsweek
Newsweek is an American weekly news magazine published in New York City. It is distributed throughout the United States and internationally. It is the second-largest news weekly magazine in the U.S., having trailed Time in circulation and advertising revenue for most of its existence...
magazine. The U.S. edition was headlined The First Casualty and the international edition Shooting to Kill.
Schaufelberger was photographed in uniform and interviewed by international media representatives (including Newsweek) one week before his death. Previous pictures of Schaufelberger had been taken by the Magnum
Magnum Photos
Magnum Photos is an international photographic cooperative owned by its photographer-members, with offices located in New York, Paris, London and Tokyo...
Photo Agency in Paris for a syndicated feature story on the escalating U.S. military involvement in the region. For security reasons Schaufelberger appeared in those photos as a rear view only and in civilian clothes.